“Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, after helping Theseus to escape from the labyrinth, was carried by him to the island of Naxos and was left there asleep, while the ungrateful Theseus pursued his way home without her. Ariadne, on waking and finding herself deserted, abandoned herself to grief [as portrayed here by Parker]. But Venus (Aphrodite) took pity on her, and consoled her with the promise that she should have an immortal lover, instead of the mortal one she had lost.”--from Bulfinch’s Mythology